Governance

European Schoolnet is governed by its 34 member Ministries of Education.

Statutory bodies

Ministries represent the decision-making body of European Schoolnet through a number of groups, namely:

the Steering Committee, for the political and strategic orientations of European Schoolnet. It adopts the work programme and the budget of the organization;

the Board of Directors

"More than ever education is challenged to improve results while budgets stay the same, or even shrink. This calls upon us to look for new ways of learning. We know by now that ICT helps to develop each talent of every student and to increase flexibility and efficiency in the educational system. We need to work together to make sure this knowledge is set into action. European Schoolnet is the network to exchange knowledge about and to explore new ways of integrating ICT in education. This is why we are happy to participate."

Toine Maes, Kennisnet, the Netherlands

European Schoolnet's two subcommittees and four working groups are of strategic importance in supporting the organization's agenda, and in fuelling its mission and vision. They are used to facilitate a European platform of exchange between Ministries of Education on current national priorities, as well as help prepare for the challenges of the future.

Policy and Innovation Committee

The Policy and Innovation Committee is open to all members of the Steering Committee and acts as a forum to discuss policy, research and innovation topics identified by the Steering Committee and not covered by the network's Working Groups. The Policy and Innovation Committee meets up to three times a year and members are invited to bring a national expert on the subject being discussed at each meeting. Strategic seminars are also organized as part of the Policy and Innovation Committee's work programme, as are international immersive study visits, allowing members to benefit from the experience of other countries.

Working groups

Working groups are set up by a group of Ministries of Education to tackle a specific issue. The remit and duration are defined by the Ministries involved.

1. Indicators Working Group

Description: What are precisely the issues covered by indicators built on existing national and international data collections about the use of technology in education? Which ones can be used for comparison between countries, and which ones could be adjusted to permit such comparison? And more importantly, what are the new indicators current missing which would enable us to properly monitor the recent and most promising technology-enhanced and innovative developments we are interested in? These are the core questions discussed within this working group with national experts, supported by researchers from FBK-IRVAPP (the Research Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies) and European Schoolnet colleagues.

The result of this work, grounded in the analysis of existing survey questionnaires, will be shared in a state of the art report proposing new indicators to be developed.

Description: The Interactive Classroom Working Group (ICWG) allows policy makers to explore common areas of concern, share experience, and address policy challenges related to the integration of a wide range of technologies in classrooms and their impact on teaching and learning. The ICWG is currently focusing on different approaches to personalising learning that includes: developing guidelines on adapting learning spaces in schools; creating short learning activities for teachers interested in personalising learning, and publishing BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) technical guidelines as a follow up to the BYOD guide for school leaders.

Description: The Ministries of Education Representatives STEM Working Group is a platform for discussion and exchange for Ministries of Education regarding their STEM education policies. The overall objective of this initiative is to help lay the foundations for medium and long-term strategies and activities between ministries of education and European Schoolnet in the field of STEM education, following an agenda that addresses the Ministries' priorities and main interests. The working group is coordinated by European Schoolnet and supported by Scientix, the community for science education in Europe. The members of the working group are appointed by the Ministries of Education directly.

Description:This new working group has been recently established, following the outcomes of EMINENT 2016, European Schoolnet's annual conference which was dedicated to the issue of digital citizenship. This working group will concentrate in the first instance on a specific sub-area of digital citizenship; the digital competence of teachers, students and schools. Specific meetings of the group are currently being organized and will focus on teachers' self-assessment of digital competence, as well as requirements related to the digital competence and citizenship of students and educational organizations.